Ultimate prize: Few pro athletes are able to end career as a champion

2:49 PM,
Feb. 3, 2013

The Vince Lombardi trophy is the ultimate prize the San Francisco 49ers and Baltimore Ravens seek in today's Super Bowl XLVII. Only a few pro athletes are able to end a career as a champ. Patrick Semansky/AP

Written by

Erik Brady
USA Today

Ray Lewis wants a storybook ending in today's Super Bowl. Win the big game, two-step one last glorious dance and saunter slowly into the sunset -- or, as "Saturday Night Live" suggested, ascend into heaven from the 50-yard line.

It's the American dream, dressed up in shiny helmet and shoulder pads: Make your last act a dramatic victory, preferably in the final, frantic moments, and exit stage right from the game's grandest stage.

Lewis, 37, emerged over 17 seasons as one of the NFL's all-time great linebackers. If his Baltimore Ravens win, he'd muscle his way into an exclusive club of sports ...